Defining the Four November Promotion Trends

The month of November hosts arguably one of the largest retail weeks of the year. What started as Black Friday has grown into the monstrosity that starts anytime after Halloween + really only transitions into Christmas and New Year promotions, rather than coming to an end.

With SO MUCH marketing and messaging happening between Thanksgiving and Giving Tuesday, how do you know where your business falls and how to maximize the potential without making your business look like a garage sale?

It starts with knowing which category your business falls into.

Here’s an explanation of the differences between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday:

Black Friday

This is likely the day that inspired the “Shopping Is My Cardio” meme. A mere decade ago, these sales started at 5am the day after Thanksgiving, and now, Black Friday sales can be offered pretty much anytime in November. If your work centers around a brick + mortar business, (unless you’re a small shop!) a Black Friday sale is likely what your customers will be waiting on from you.

Small Business Saturday

Bottom line: it’s hard for small businesses to compete with the big boys – in terms of the amount of marketing or the margin on the deal. Now, thanks to Small Business Saturday – you don’t have to! If you’re a small business, take advantage of the day reserved just for you to honor your customers – without having to compete for marketing with the major corporations.

Cyber Monday

It’s the single biggest online sales day of the year (with Amazon Prime Day fast on its tail!) Cyber Monday brews the perfect storm of exhausted travelers returning to work with the convenience of not having to leave their desk to score the sale. Keep in mind, though, that this is still largely ruled by large corporations, so if you own a small online shop, you’d probably be better suited for Small Business Saturday, so you’re not getting lost in your customers’ email inbox or tripling the amount you would normally pay for social media ads.

Giving Tuesday

As consumerism has gotten to an unhealthy level, a few leaders stepped up in 2012 to trend giving rather than receiving – placing the importance of using our money to give back rather than just to accumulate more stuff. Giving Tuesday is a great way to invite your customers to come together for an issue or cause you care about. No, you don’t keep the money you raise, but as we all know, serving brings people together, and rather than just saying you care, participating in Giving Tuesday is a powerful movement to show you care.

Hopefully, that helps you choose which day to include in your promotional plans. But do you still need…

Some guiding principles to keep in mind as you plan?

Tips that are industry specific?

Reminders of how to participate in a promotion without neglecting your priorities?

We put together a resource for our swHw members this month called The Complete Guide to Create Your November Promotion.

Your digital download is waiting on you inside the swHw membership portal. At swHw, we are a community of women seeking to honor God, our families and our career callings...in that order. If you're looking for business training you can trust, our aim is to live dependent on God, dedicated to our families, effective in business and committed to the gospel. We'd love to meet you! Join swHw today -- for this resource + many more like it!

By Michelle Myers|2018-11-02T11:15:28-04:00November 1st, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Defining the Four November Promotion Trends

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Michelle Myers is the founder of she works HIS way and Cross Training Couture, the creator of the swHw Business Tracker and the author of Famous in Heaven and at Home. She offers marketing + copywriting services to help purpose-driven businesses clarify their message. Sign up at clarifyyourmessage.com/michelle-myers.